F.C. Williamsburg

During the planning, shooting and promoting of the Chinatown Ballers, I had, for obvious reasons, the imagery of football on my mind, and since I was gripped by a sense of nostalgia for a time before the internet I explored the internet for images from when I was a little boy (or “wee lad” in proper football nomenclature). My becoming a soccer fan coincided with the time when German Fussball was at it’s very peak. The teams from the early 70’s were filled to the rim with great players, who were in turn filled with the spirit of rock’n’roll, or something. In any case all these guys could be timemachined into nowadays Williamsburg and, while ordering a macchiato, make a barista feel squarish.

So let’s start with the great “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer, the innovative play-making defender and early expert on mustache irony.

Here he is showing New Yorkers how to simultaneously impress his mom, his grandma and his girlfriend while sporting a little powder-blue baggy. How did he do it? I wish I knew.

Great minds think alike…

…which leads us to Gerd Müller. Possibly the best German player of them all, definitely the best striker by far, which is why he gets to wear this outfit:

Here he scores the winning goal in the ’74 World Cup final against the Netherlands…

and that’s why he gets to smoke a big cigar with Paul Breitner….

…speaking of Breitner: Here was a man who was not afraid to engage in an Afro-deathmatch to the death with England’s Kevin Keagan…

…tell fratboys all over the world how to turn indigestion into a headache…

…show men what men shorts should look like on men (together with Uli Hoeness)…

…and yet be a sensitive art lover deep down inside…

…just like Guenter Netzer…

…a moody midfield genius…

…who knew his place at a pool…

…or on a very fast, sexy car…

…just like Sepp Maier…

…the backbone of the defense…

…who’d go after any ball…

…in any condition…

…and never lose his head.

Last but definitely not least there was Berti Vogts, one of my favorite players.

Though he was a bit undersized, his ferocious defending earned him the nickname “the terrier”.

And yet, he was man enough to read a book in a romantic setting…

…and keep his forwards (Jupp Heynckes in this case) happy, no matter how.